Music and Movement

Over the past few weeks, children have been supported in exploring a range of music and movement in the garden.

First children and staff needed a performance space: they cleared furniture and created a stage area. They needed to work together and problem solve how to tessellate the blocks so they all fit and were safe to stand on. Next they helped gather resources and placed them adjacent to the stage. 
Children were introduced to a range of music - Lize is from South Africa and Shamso is from Somalia, so they did a focus on music from the continent of Africa to start with (of course baby Shark also made an appearance!)
Children were encouraged to listen to the music and respond using their bodies. 
Resources such a ribbons and scarves were added and children incorporated those into their movements, copying each other and proudly sharing their ideas. 

A range of musical instruments such as xylophones, triangles, bells tambours and shakers were introduced and children were shown how to play them correctly.
These were explored alongside the music and children explored volume, rhythm and timbre of the different instruments.
Finally, the djembe drums were introduced to children in small groups.
This week children will be honing their skills with the djembe drums - exploring the sounds they can make and performing together. 

Next week we have Iroko Theatre group visiting: they are old friends of ours and come each year to celebrate Black History Month. They share music, stories and art from Nigeria. 

Do you have any musical instruments at home? Do you listen to music with your child? Dancing and singing together are wonderful things to do.